WHEN THE PHONE DOESN’T RING
Medium | 12.01.2026 07:36
WHEN THE PHONE DOESN’T RING
1 min read
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Just now
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ICE is a word
that sounds cold enough
to excuse itself.
Immigration.
Customs.
Enforcement.
It doesn’t say fear,
but fear arrives anyway.
In unanswered phones.
In missed shifts.
In the silence that feels wrong
too quickly.
You tell yourself
there must be a reason.
There’s always a reason.
But reasons don’t sit with you at night wondering who is scared,
who is alone, who didn’t get to say goodbye.
People talk about law
like it lives somewhere separate.
Like it doesn’t pass through bodies
on its way to being enforced.
What’s left behind isn’t loud.
Just absences.
Rooms that feel off.
Laughter that hesitates.
Words like sanctuary
start to sound desperate.
Liberty feels fragile.
Together becomes something
you have to hold onto
so you don’t come apart.
No acronym can explain
the moment you realize
someone can be removed
and the world expects you
to keep going.
